blue planet’s first responders • citizen …...4 waterkeeper magazine summer 2013 contents news...

WATERKEEPER®

WATERKEEPER

BLUE PLANET’S FIRST RESPONDERS • CITIZEN ACTION

SUMMER 2013

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4 Waterkeeper Magazine Summer 2013

CONTENTS

N E W S & U P D AT E S

F E AT U R E S

Volume 9, Number 2, Summer 2013

12 River Mission in Canada

14 Savannah Riverkeeper Strikes Back

15 Good News for Mobile Bay

16 Blue Jeans, Blue Waters

46 On the Water

26 Coal Casts a Deadly Shadow on China

China’s Waterkeepers are leading the fight to curb their nation’s deadly

coal addiction.

32 The First SacriiceConquering the Colorado River hasn’t worked, but working with the river will.

38 This Sacred River Must LiveRiverkeepers along the Yamuna are raising hopes that the river can be

restored to its former grandeur.

42 Fracking Fracas on Colorado’s Front RangeGas, oil, money and water mixed together are polluting Colorado’s nature,

people and democracy.

48 One World, One Global CrisisWaterkeepers from six continents gathered in Pine Mountain, Georgia to

confront our planetary crisis.

26

32

38

say yes to clean water

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

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In 1982, complying with a federal court order stemming from alawsuit filed by environmentalists, the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency finally issued regulations, under the 1972 Clean Water Act, togovern toxic-pollution discharges. Throughout the previous decade,industry polluters had used political clout to delay those regulations,and, even in 1982, as Ronald Regan’s EPA was promulgatingmaximum standards for every other industry, powerful lobbyistsfor the big utilities and King Coal were able to persuade the agencyto omit regulation of the worst sources of toxic water pollution inAmerica – the poisons flowing from waste lagoons and coal-ash pilesat power plants.

As a result of those interventions, the EPA’s guidelines allowcoal plants, virtually free of federal limits, to flush billions of poundsof poisonous heavy metals every year from toxic ash-piles and waste-impoundments into rivers and streams. In fact, coal-fired powerplants are responsible for over one half of all toxic water-pollution inthe U.S., out-dumping the next nine industries combined, includingchemical and paper plants and refineries.

According to the EPA, some 267 coal plants have contaminated23,000 miles of America’s waterways with an often lethal soup of

At Long Last, the EPA Must Regulate Coal AshBy Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

toxins, including arsenic, boron, cadmium, chromium, copper,mercury, and selenium. Every year, coal-generators vomit 80,000pounds of arsenic and 65,000 pounds of lead into these waters.

The lack of federal regulations puts the burden on states toregulate coal-ash toxins, but coal and utility lobbyists are even moreadept at dominating state political landscapes than federal policy.According to data in a new report by Waterkeeper Alliance, the SierraClub, Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project and Clean WaterAction, the states are doing next to nothing to protect our familiesfrom King Coal’s water pollution. And, ironically, President Obama’splan to force coal plants finally to clean up their toxic air-emissionscould actually aggravate water-pollution, since the toxins that are beingscrubbed from smokestacks are now ending up in the water instead.

According to the EPA’s estimates, as more power plants transfertoxics from the air and dump them in the water, toxic wastewater willincrease by 28 percent over the next 15 years.

But there is some good news. After three decades, the EPA, incompliance with a lawsuit brought in 2009 by environmental groups,has proposed new guidelines that would limit toxic discharges fromcoal-fired power plants into waterways. Power-plant operators can

robert f. kennedy, jr. and the sierra club’s mary anne hitt at a press conference on the banks of mountain island lake near charlotte, nc. the two joined an environmental coalition

for the official release of a report highlighting the public health threats of toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants, titled “closing the floodgates: how the coal

industry is poisoning our water and how we can stop it.” opposite page: hitt and kennedy with catawba riverkeeper sam perkins (second from right) and the environmental integrity

project’s eric schaeffer at the site of an illegal toxic discharge from the riverbend plant on the catawba river.

7Summer 2013 Waterkeeper Magazine

proposals and adopt the strongest standard available to protect ourfamilies and our waterways. This standard, known as “Option 5,” wouldwisely require power plants to dry their coal-ash waste and dispose of itin landfills, with zero liquid discharges.

There is a serious risk, however, that the EPA will cave in to intenseindustry pressure to weaken the standards, which would allow muchof this pollution to continue indefinitely. In the face of this pressure,the White House must ignore OMB bureaucrats without scientificbackground and let the EPA impose science-based regulations.

The Clean Water Act is one of our nation’s greatest statutoryachievements. Thanks to this landmark legislation, our rivers no longercatch fire and our waterways are safer and healthier than they were decadesago. But 40 years after the Act was passed, the coal industry is still pollutingwith impunity, charging through a loophole available to no other industry.

We have suffered enough coal-industry abuses – from the poisoningof our air and water to the devastation of mountains to the cataclysmicdischarges of carbon that have brought us to the brink of climateArmageddon. It’s long past time for the coal barons to obey the lawsthat apply to every other American industry and for our nationalgovernment to eliminate toxic industrial discharges altogether.

easily afford to adopt these new guidelines without any substantialdisruption of electricity prices or reliability. Indeed, many plantsalready employ these protocols.

Unfortunately, however, coal and utility lobbyists have once morepolluted the democratic process. Draft copies of the EPA’s proposedstandards show that, after agency scientists and economistsdeveloped new science-based regulations last year, the White HouseOffice of Management and Budget (OMB), a puppet for King Coaland coal-fired electric generators, took the unusual step of writing sixweaker options into the EPA’s draft. Those options will effectively allowAmerica’s filthiest power plants to go on polluting unabated.

Coal-plant pollution is not a victimless crime. Americans who drinkthe polluted water or eat contaminated fish that result can experiencelowered IQs and suffer from cancer and a range of other devastatinghealth problems. Since the EPA hasn’t acted for the last 30 years toprotect Americans from these perils, Waterkeeper Alliance, our localWaterkeepers, Sierra Club and other partners have taken legal actionto stop illegal contamination of groundwater and surface water atseveral coal-fired power plants. But our efforts are hobbled by the lackof regulations, and it is essential that the EPA discard OMB’s bloodless

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.PRESIDENT

Robert F. KennedyPRESIDENT

Robert F. Kennedy

Glenn R. RinkCHAIR

Paul GallayTREASURER

Paul GallayTREASURER

Paul Gallay

Casi Callaway

Wendy Abrams

Karl Coplan

James Curleigh

Grey Hecht

Mark Mattson

Dean Naujoks

Chris Wilke

Terry Tamminen

Carla Zilka

Marc YaggiEXECUTIVE DIRECTORMarc YaggiEXECUTIVE DIRECTORMarc Yaggi

Lesley AdamsWESTERN REGIONAL COORDINATORLesley AdamsWESTERN REGIONAL COORDINATORLesley Adams

Larry BaldwinNORTH CAROLINA CAFO COORDINATORLarry BaldwinNORTH CAROLINA CAFO COORDINATORLarry Baldwin

Rachel CookDIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Ippolita di PaolaEXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/Ippolita di PaolaEXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/Ippolita di Paola

LATIN AMERICAN REGIONAL COORDINATOREXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/LATIN AMERICAN REGIONAL COORDINATOREXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/

Emily FeinbergSOUTH ATLANTIC & GULF COORDINATOREmily FeinbergSOUTH ATLANTIC & GULF COORDINATOREmily Feinberg

Kelly FosterSENIOR ATTORNEYKelly FosterSENIOR ATTORNEYKelly Foster

Peter HarrisonSTAFF ATTORNEY

John HovingSPECIAL OPERATIONSJohn HovingSPECIAL OPERATIONSJohn Hoving

Sharon KhanINTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR

Allie KleinSENIOR FIELD COORDINATOR

Brittany KraftCOMMUNICATIONS &Brittany KraftCOMMUNICATIONS &Brittany Kraft

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

Pete NicholsNATIONAL DIRECTOR

Mary Beth PostmanASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENTMary Beth PostmanASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENTMary Beth Postman

Tom QuinnSENIOR EDITORTom QuinnSENIOR EDITORTom Quinn

Michelle SampeurDEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS ASSOCIATEMichelle SampeurDEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS ASSOCIATEMichelle Sampeur

Min ZhengASIA REGIONAL COORDINATORMin ZhengASIA REGIONAL COORDINATORMin Zheng

Glenn R. Rink, CHAIR

Wendy Abrams

Brian Acrish

Jeffrey R. Anderson

Gordon Brown

Gay Browne

Ann Colley

James Curleigh

Virginia Dadey

John Paul DeJoria

Charles Dorego

F. Daniel Gabel, Jr.

Murry Fisher

Tom Gegax

Grey Hecht

A. Judson Hill

Ed Hubennette

Karen Percy Lowe &

Kevin Lowe

Kris Moore

John G. MacFarlane, III

Bryce Perry

Heather Richardson

Laura & Rutherford Seydel

Tore Steen

Lessing Stern

Terry Tamminen

Joe Tomlinson

Jami & Klaus von Heidegger

William B. Wachtel

Yvonne Zappulla

Carla Zilka

Mark Mattson / CHAIR

LAKE ONTARIOMark Mattson /LAKE ONTARIOMark Mattson /

WATERKEEPER

Minakshi AroraYAMUNA RIVERKEEPER

Casi CallawayMOBILE BAYKEEPERCasi CallawayMOBILE BAYKEEPERCasi Callaway

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COASTKEEPER

Juliet CohenCHATAHOOCHEEJuliet CohenCHATAHOOCHEEJuliet Cohen

RIVERKEEPER

Karl CoplanPACE UNIVERSITYKarl CoplanPACE UNIVERSITYKarl Coplan

ENVIRONMENTALLITIGATION CLINIC

Paul GallayRIVERKEEPERPaul GallayRIVERKEEPERPaul Gallay

German Garcia-DuranBOGOTA RIVERKEEPER

Jeff KelbleSHENANDOAH RIVERKEEPERJeff KelbleSHENANDOAH RIVERKEEPERJeff Kelble

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Donna LisenbyUPPER WATAUGADonna LisenbyUPPER WATAUGADonna Lisenby

RIVERKEEPER

Dean NaujoksYADKIN RIVERKEEPERDean NaujoksYADKIN RIVERKEEPERDean Naujoks

Cheryl NennMILWAUKEE RIVERKEEPERCheryl NennMILWAUKEE RIVERKEEPERCheryl Nenn

Hartwell CarsonFRENCH BROAD RIVERKEEPER

Deb SelfBAYKEEPER

Captain Bill SheehanHACKENSACK RIVERKEEPERCaptain Bill SheehanHACKENSACK RIVERKEEPERCaptain Bill Sheehan

Chris WilkePUGET SOUNDKEEPER

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CLEAN WATER • BLUE PLANET’S FIRST RESPONDERS • CITIZEN ACTION

ON THE COVER:Kang Xiao Feng, a staff member at UpperYellow River Waterkeeper, outside a coalmine in northwestern China.

Design by BoyBurnsBarn/John Turner

M A G A Z I N E

Globally, the paper industry is the singlelargest industrial consumer of water and thethird greatest emitter of greenhouse gases.Getting the Paper (More) Right!You will notice that this copy of WATERKEEPER magazine is different from copiesproduced in the last few years. Although we are very proud of the paper selectionchoices we have made in the past, we have found that the industry has movedforward. Today we can print on a 100% Post Consumer Waste paper that providesdramatically better environmental savings at lower cost, without sacrificing the printquality that our readers expect.

Now that WATERKEEPER magazine is printed on 100% Post ConsumerWaste, FSC-certified, chlorine-free Cascades Rolland Enviro100 Satin, our newenvironmental savings metrics will be based on actual measurements and usagedata at the mill. Using this paper more than doubles reductions of wastewatercreated, solid waste generated and energy consumed. Because Cascades actuallyburns methane obtained directly from a local land fill, the green house gasesemitted are three times less than those of the previous paper manufacturer. This is donewithout purchasing either carbon offset or windpower credits, as our previous supplierdid. We are very pleased with this new paper grade and anticipate you will be too.

Environmental Savings (compared to products containing 100% virgin paper)

WATERKEEPER magazine is also now available in a new e-format compatible withall mobile devices. Look for it on our website!

Board of Directors

Trustee Council

Waterkeeper Council

Staff

In other words, the savings from our new paper choice is equivalent to:

Waterkeeper magazine is printed on chlorine-free, FSC-certified Rolland Enviro100 Satin 100% post-consumer recycled paper which is manufactured with biogasenergy. This paper is certified by Ecologo and by Smartwood for FSC standardswhich promote environmentally-appropriate, socially-beneficial and economically-viable management of the world’s forests.

Waterkeeper Alliance and Cascades Fine Papers are proud to reduce theenvironmental burden related to paper production.

70 trees saved

67,095 gallons wastewater flow saved

8,481 lbs. solid waste not generated

107,000,000 BTUs of energy not consumed

22,047 lbs. of CO2 gas emissions prevented

107 MMBTU of energy saved

65 lbs. of nitrogen oxide (NOx) gas emissions prevented

The annual emissions from 3 cars

AND the annual energy consumption of 1 household

WATERKEEPER

© 2013 Waterkeeper Alliance. Reproduction of editorial content only is authorized with appropriate credit and acknowledgement. Basinkeeper, Beachkeeper, Channelkeeper, Creekkeeper, Lakekeeper, Shorekeeperand Waterkeeper are registered trademarks and service marks of Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc. Coastkeeper, Gulfkeeper and Inletkeeper are trademarks and service marks licensed by Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc.Riverkeeper is a registered trademark and service mark of Riverkeeper, Inc. and is licensed for use herein. Baykeeper and Deltakeeper are registered trademarks and service marks of Baykeeper, Inc. and are licensedfor use herein. Soundkeeper is a registered trademark and service mark of Soundkeeper, Inc. and is licensed for use herein.

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Who Is

1.5 millionsquare miles of watersheds

22 countries

more than200 waterways

6 continents

In virtually every part of the world,climate change is affecting the quality and quantity of waterresources. As the effects intensify in the coming years, theimpacts on farms and forests, coastlines and floodplains,water supplies, and human populations will become moreand more severe.

Waterkeeper Alliance is uniquely positioned to confrontthe effects of climate change and other environmental threatsby engaging its grassroots network on local, regional andglobal levels. We are the voice for rivers, streams, wetlandsand coastlines in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Asiaand Africa.

We are a powerful worldwide coalition of more than 200local Waterkeeper groups—Riverkeeper, Baykeeper, Coastkeeperand other grassroots Waterkeeper organizations—connectedas a unified international force to defend the world’s watersduring this period of unprecedented crisis.

Join Waterkeeper Alliance— Get WATERKEEPEREveryone has the right to clean water. It is the action ofsupporting members like you that ensures our future andstrengthens our fight for clean water. Join WaterkeeperAlliance and get WATERKEEPER for one year. Go to www.waterkeeper.org and click on Donate Now to join as asupporting member. You can also join by mail. Send yourcheck, payable to Waterkeeper Alliance, to WATERKEEPERMembership, 17 Battery Place, Ste. 1329, New York, NY 10004or contact us at [email protected].

Thanks for your support!

Waterkeeper Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Y0ur $50 contribution or more entitles you to receive a one-year subscription to WATERKEEPER magazine, which has an annual subscription valueof $12. The balance of your contribution is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Photo: Rick Dove

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In JulyOttawaRiverkeeperand BlueLegacyInternationallaunchedRiver Mission-Mission Rivière,an ambitious project toincrease public awareness ofthe issues affecting the health ofthe Ottawa River and the need forleadership to protect it. The effortis supported by a $490,000 grantfrom the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation.

Founded in 1990, de Gaspé Beaubien is aprivate family foundation with a strong commitmentto entrepreneurial philanthropy. Members of the family’s fourthgeneration are committed to leading on environmental issues,particularly in regard to water. “We chose this project,” said Philippede Gaspé Beaubien IV, “because water is humanity’s most importantnatural resource and the protection of water is critical to the health andfuture of humanity and the planet. We believe we’ve found two outstandingleaders on water issues in Ottawa Riverkeeper Meredith Brown and AlexandraCousteau.” Cousteau, granddaughter of explorer Jacques Cousteau, headsBlue Legacy,which develops documentary films about critical water issues.

The 760-mile Ottawa River is the eighth-longest river in North America.It harbors over 300 species of birds and more native mussel species than allof Europe’s rivers combined. Its watershed is larger than England, yet nosingle government agency is responsible or accountable for it.

According to Ottawa Riverkeeper Meredith Brown, the project is criti-cal to restoring and protecting the river. “Although we’re located in On-tario province, two-thirds of the Ottawa River watershed is in Quebec,” saysBrown, “and Quebecers along the river care deeply about water qualityand the health of their local reaches. With the help of the de Gaspé

B e a u b i e nFoundation,we’ll be ableto work effec-tively in Que-bec to help

communities,businesses and

government under-stand the problems and take

action tosolve them.”

The project’s focus is toimprove water quality, to counteract

the negative impacts of dams, andto ensure that existing environmental

laws protecting the river are enforced. OttawaRiverkeeper will work with riverside communities,

stakeholders and various government agencies and leaders. Thepartnership will hire a full-time Ottawa Riverkeeper staff-member tomobilize communities in Quebec.

The culmination of River Mission-Mission Rivière will be the2015 Summit for the Protection of the Ottawa River, which, underthe leadership of Ottawa Riverkeeper, will bring together activists,citizens, industry, government officials and members of First Nationsto develop a common vision, shared objectives and concrete steps toimprove the health of the river.

Cousteau plans to produce three documentaries about theOttawa River: one on the quality of the river’s water, another onthe impact of dams on river health, and a third on how the lack ofcoordinated governance is affecting the river’s future.

“The Waterkeeper movement has always been inspiring to meand something I support and encourage,” she said. “I am thrilledto be able to work closely with Ottawa Riverkeeper to help mobilizecommunities in restoring the Ottawa River. It’s time people takeback ownership of their waters!” ph

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Ottawa Riverkeeper on a Mission on a Mission on a MissionOttawa RiverkeeperOttawa Riverkeeper

meredith brown, ottawa riverkeeper, (top)and alexandra cousteau, of blue legacyinternational, are working together torestore and protect the ottawa river.

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13Summer 2013Summer 2013 WWSummer 2012Summer 2012Summer 2013Summer 2013Summer 2013Summer 2013 Waterkeeper MagaziWaterkeeper MagaziWaterkeeper MagaziWaterkeeper Magazi

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Settlement in Savannah: Army Corps andLocal Authorities Must Pay to Protect River

In May, a settlement was reached in U.S. District Court in a suitfiled in 2011 by the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalfof Savannah Riverkeeper and two other local environmentalgroups, that allows the federal government to proceed with a$650 million plan to dredge more than 30 miles of the SavannahRiver between theport of Savannahand the AtlanticOcean. Thedeepening projectis part of a largerrace involvingEast Coast portscompeting for thesupersized cargoships that will betraveling through the expanded Panama Canal.

The agreement was reached after nine months of intensenegotiations among Savannah Riverkeeper and its partners onone side and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and GeorgiaPorts Authority on the other. At issue was the environmental

damage that will result from digging the channel – which hasalready been deepened by dredging five times in the pastcentury – five feet deeper.

Dredging five more feet of mud and sand along morethan 30 miles of the river would worsen an already serious

dissolved-oxygenproblem makingit even harder fordissolved oxygento reach fish,crabs, worms andbacteria near thebottom.

“I liken itto driving downa highway, and for

10 miles you have to drive underwater and you run out of breath,” saidSavannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus. “That’s essentially what the riveris like now for the species that live in it.”

The Army Corps has agreed to fix the problem by spending $72million to install twelve 20-foot-high, cone-shaped oxygen

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“OUR RIVER AND HARBOR HAVE

TAKEN A BEATING FOR A LONG

TIME, AND THEY’RE SHOWING

THE BATTLE SCARS.”


Restoring Habitats, andRevenue, along Mobile Bay

Immediately following the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster in thespring of 2010, Mobile Baykeeper, Alabama Coastal Foundation, TheNature Conservancy and The Ocean Foundation began collaborating ona project known as “100-1000: Restore Coastal Alabama Partnership.”The project aims to reverse damage not only from the cataclysmic Gulf oildisaster but also from years of pollution and coastal storms. The partnersare building 100 miles of oyster reefs and plantings, and promoting thegrowth of 1,000 acres of marsh along Mobile Bay. The fourth largestestuary in the U.S., the bay shelters and nurtures the finfish, shrimp andoysters that are so vital to the economies of Gulf communities. Gulf shrimp,forexample,reaphundredsofmillionsofdollarsannuallyindocksiderevenue.

Because of dredge-and-fill activities, seawalls and jetties, erosion andstorms, the bay has lost a significant number of oyster reefs, sea grassbeds, and marsh habitats. The reefs are particularly valuable in preventingerosion and subsequent property loss, and they filter out nutrients thatcause algal blooms, which damage fisheries and curtail tourism.

Oyster reefs provide a safe habitat for oyster larvae to settle andcolonize, and also serve as nurseries for commercially and recreationallyimportant finfish and shellfish. But they are the single most imperiledmarine habitat: 85 percent of the world’s reefs have been lost. In theGulf, according to Mobile Baykeeper Casi Callaway, an investment of$150 million over 10 years would build 100 miles of oyster reefs, create3,000 jobs, boost regional household income by about $10 million a year,increase sales of crabs, fish, and oysters by $7 million yearly, save propertyowners up to $150 million on the construction of bulkheads, increaseyearly spending by saltwater-anglers in Alabama by $4.9 million, andincrease annual seafood sales by $7.3 million.

In 2011, more than 500 volunteers built a quarter-mile of reef atHelen Woods Park in Mobile. And in April and May of this year, more than900 volunteers deployed more than 10,000 concrete “oyster castles” tocreate four reefsalong theshorelineatPelican Point in Fairhope,Alabama,where erosion and habitat loss have seriously hurt the environment andeconomy. The reefs will protect the adjacent shoreline and enhancehabitats for fish, shellfish and birds, which are essential for recreationand sightseeing, as well as for commercial harvesting. “The 100-1000Partnership is proof that restoring our environment is the best way torestore and sustain our economy,” said Callaway.

Mobile

Drilling Pollution

Storm Damage

IndustrialPollution

BP DeepwaterHorizon Spill

injectors that Bonitatibus likened to “iron lungs for the river.”The machines, called Speece Cones, suck up river water, mix itwith oxygen and then inject it back into the river. The settlementrequires that the system be fully tested and proven effective.The Army Corps also agreed to conduct extra environmentalmonitoring for toxic cadmium and other pollutants that couldbe stirred up by the dredging.

New conservation efforts required by the $43.5 millionsettlement include a project to protect Atlantic and shortnosesturgeon, land preservation along the river and its tributaries, anda decommissioning of the river’s navigation status above theharbor to allow for the return of its natural meandering course.

Reversing the channelization of the river, which was doneto shorten barge travel time between Augusta and Savannah,and restoring the bends, called “oxbows,” will, according toBonitatibus, slow the flow of water and have a dramatic positiveeffect on marine life and the river’s overall health.

“Our river and harbor have taken a beating for a long time,and they’re showing the battle scars,” she says. “It’s not a pristinewaterway, but this settlement agreement is a step in the rightdirection toward redressing a long, sorry history of damages.”

photos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah districtphotos by the u.s. army corps of engineers savannah district

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Blue Jeans, Blue WatersWaterkeeper and Levi Strauss Hold “Community Days”

In May, Levi Strauss & Co. offices in SanFrancisco, Beijing and Dhaka, Bangladeshjoined with Waterkeeper Alliance to holdemployee “Community Days” to raiseawareness about water-quality issues. Over100 Levi Strauss employees participated inWaterkeeper-organized events.

In San Francisco, the Alliance andLevi’s conducted a restoration project atHeron’s Head Park. Following an address byAlliance Executive Director Marc Yaggi, about30 Levi’s employees put on gloves to removeinvasive species along the India Basin sectionof San Francisco Bay.

“We were excited to see such enthusiasmfrom Levi’s for this year’s Community Day,”said Yaggi afterward. “They have a strongcommitment to volunteerism, not just here inthe U. S., but across the globe.”

On the same day in Beijing, Levi’s,

Beiyun Waterkeeper Wang Yongchen and herstaff informed dozens of Levi’s employeesabout threats facing local waterways andwater management during a three-hour“Happy River Walk” along the city’s canals.The staff also demonstrated how to conductsome basic water-quality tests.

Wang noted that the Levi’s employees“wholeheartedly supported” Waterkeeper’smission to protect Beijing’s waterways. “Ididn’t know that China’s streams and riverswere facing such big challenges,” said oneemployee. “But I also didn’t know that there’sa group of people that cared so much aboutour waterways.”

Later in the month, in Dhaka, BurigangaRiverkeeper Sharif Jamil organized Levi’sCommunity Day, which was held on thebanks of the Buriganga. More than 30 Levi’semployees and volunteers from Riverkeeper

and other Bangladeshi non-governmentorganizations joined to clean up the debris-covered Sadarghat Terminal, one of thelargest river ports in the world. Afterward thevolunteers supplied trash-baskets to ferriesand T-shirts to boatmen while explaining tothem the urgency of protecting the river.

“Despite heavy rain, the Community Daywent really well,” said Puspita Alam, a Levi’sexecutive in Dhaka, “This NGO, BurigangaRiverkeeper, is doing such a great job. Peoplewere responding to the message we weretrying to give them and were motivated to getinvolved in the cleanup operation.”

As part of the partnership, WaterkeeperAlliance connects Levi’s offices andemployees with our local grassroots water-advocates around the world. The Alliancecelebrates Levi Strauss and Co.’s serious andstrong commitment to clean water.

left, trash receptacles are distributed in dhaka, bangladesh, on the banks of the buriganga river as

volunteers explain the urgency of protecting the river to local boatmen.

right, a volunteer at the san francisco bay clean up.

photos by levi strauss & co.

Blue WBlue WBlue WBlue WatersBlue WBlue WatersBlue WBlue WBlue WBlue Watersaterkeeper and Levi Strauss Hold “Caterkeeper and Levi Strauss Hold “Caterkeeper and Levi Strauss Hold “CWaterkeeper and Levi Strauss Hold “Caterkeeper and Levi Strauss Hold “C

HEAVY ON STYLE,

LIGHT ON WATER

Levi’s Water<Less™ products reduce

water use in the �nishing process by

up to 96% for some styles. In 2012, we

made more than 29 million Water<Less™

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More and more of our products are

becoming Water< Less™.

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LEVI.COM/PROGRESS

The Levi’s® brand is proud to partner

with Waterkeeper to help provide access

to safe drinking water to communities

around the globe.

Northwest Coal-Terminal Proposals:

Three Down, Three to GoColumbia Riverkeeper is in a celebratory mood.

As reported in the last issue of themagazine, Waterkeepers in the PaciicNorthwest have been hard at work protectingtheir waterways from an onslaught ofproposals to export Powder River Basin coalto Asia by way of the Oregon and Washingtoncoasts. This spring another major exporterbacked down.

On May 8, Kinder Morgan, a Houston-based terminal and pipeline operator, decidedto walk away from plans for a massive exportterminal near Clatskanie, Oregon, along theColumbia River. This terminal would haveexported 15-to-30-million tons of coal peryear, sending up to 12 trains a day, each amile-plus long, through North Portland, andturning the Columbia into a coal-chute thatwould have threatened cities and towns alongits banks with coal dust containing arsenicand mercury. “Coal is toxic,” said ColumbiaRiverkeeper Brett VandenHeuvel. “It containsheavy metals that pollute our water andharm aquatic life. Coal trains can lose 500

Columbia Riverkeeper and their allies,supported by strong grassroots organizing,forced Kinder Morgan to recognize thegauntlet of opposition they would have torun. They inally decided that their projectwas not a good investment.

Three of the six plans for PaciicNorthwest coal-export terminals have nowbeen dropped, the others being Coos Bay inOregon and Grays Harbor in Washington.Of the remaining three proposed terminals,two are in Washington – Gateway Paciicnear Bellingham, and Millennium BulkTerminals in Longview – and one is inOregon – Ambre Energy’s Morrow PaciicProject in Boardman.

Combined, the three remaining projectswould export over 100 million tons of coalper year. So, while indeed this is a time to celebrate, VandenHeuvel and his staff know that it is also a time to gear up for theongoing battle to protect their waters and communities from dangerous fossil-fuel development.

Bellingham

Grays Harbon

Coos Bay

LongviewBoardman

Oregon

Washington

Port WestwardPort Westward

Dropped

COAL EXPORT STATUS

Still Pending

Ripples

ph

oto

by j

aso

n h

or

n

Columbia Riverkeeper Brett VandenHeuvel (center,

in green jacket) and his staff celebrate their latest

victory against Big Coal.

New England waters are a lot healthier thissummer, thanks to extremely successful springcleanups conducted by Massachusetts Baykeeperand South County Coastkeeper, with support fromTeva, the California-based footwear manufacturer.

Massachusetts Bay, part of the larger Gulf ofMaine, is one of the largest bays on the east coast,encompassingwaters fromCapeAnntoCapeCod.“Many local residents think that Boston Harboris the only notable source of water pollutionin the region,” said Massachusetts BaykeeperBrianne Callahan. “They don’t realize how manymunicipalities empty into Massachusetts Bay andhow many sources of pollution there are.”

Callahan jumped at the chance to undertakea community-based event with Teva. “They’rea really committed partner,” she said. “And thiswas an especially good opportunity because,for many of the participants of the cleanup,the event was their introduction to all of theimportant work that Massachusetts Baykeeperis doing.”

Volunteers filled 43 contractor trash bagswith approximately 1200 pounds of trash, fivemore bags with recyclable items, and hauled outvarious large objects, including parts of a boat and dock.

“All of the participants left with a greaterunderstanding of the bay and the forces that areendangering it” Callahan concluded.

South County Coastkeeper serves thelower end of Block Island Sound, a strait in theAtlantic Ocean, approximately 10 miles wide,that separates Block Island from the coastof Rhode Island. In celebration of Earth Day2013, Coastkeeper Dave Prescott and its parentorganization, Save the Bay, organized fivebeach-cleanups on April 20th, in observanceof Earth Day 2013. They engaged over 550volunteers to remove nearly 9000 pounds oftrash from the shoreline.

“One of the fundamentals of being aWaterkeeper is actively involving the communitieswe protect,” said Prescott. “We’re grateful to thegenerous support of Teva in helping us make thatconnection and ridding our coastline of trash anddebris. Events like these give participants a hands-on perspective of how we as Waterkeepers workevery day to achieve our vision.”

Spring Cleaning offMassachusetts and Rhode Island

MASSACHUSETTS BAY

COD BAY

Boston

Providence

Plymouth

New BedfordNew BedfordNew Bedford

ChappaquiddicChappaquiddicMartha’s VinyardMartha’s VinyardMartha’s V

Nantucket

Block Island

Weymouth

Lynn

Salem

BeverlyBeverly

Glouchester

Quincy

“Many local residentsthink that Boston Harboris the only notablesource of water pollutionin the region. Theydon’t realize how manymunicipalities empty intoMassachusetts Bay andhow many sources ofpollution there are.”

Ripples

Beverly

New BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew BedfordNew Bedford

ChappaquiddicChappaquiddicMartha’s VinyardMartha’s Vinyard


IranSyria

Iraq

Turkey

Saudi Arabia

Ripples

Tigris River FlotillaUpper Tigris Waterkeeper and its sponsoringorganization, Nature Iraq, will join in anextraordinary trip this fall down the TigrisRiver to document and raise awarenessabout the many threats it faces, as well as tocelebrate Mesopotamian culture.

The trip, which will start in southeasternTurkey and proceed southward into Iraqto the Mesopotamian Marshlands, will bemade in boats crafted from traditional Iraqidesigns as well as modern river rafts.

Journeys such as this, once described ina National Geographic story on Iraq – in 1914– haven’t been attempted in many decades.

Upper Tigris Waterkeeper Nwener Fatih,a former journalist, and his partners haveworked hard to raise funds for the project and forconstruction of the traditional boats, several ofwhich have not been built in many years.

“We hope to reconnect the peoples of theregion to their shared heritage, and to identifya network of individuals and groups along theriver who want to work with us to protect ourrivers and waterways,” said Fatih. “We willalso be monitoring water quality and raisingcommunity awareness about the urgent needto improve it throughout the river basin.”

(upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right). (upper right).

Summer 2013 Waterkeeper Magazine 2323

On March 22, United Nations’ World Water Day, Minakshi Arora,Mid-Upper-Yamuna Riverkeeper in northern India, was one of fourindividuals who were recipients of the fourth annual World WaterMonitoring Challenge Water Champion Awards.

The World Water Monitoring Challenge (WWMC), coordinatedby World Water Federation and International Water Awareness, buildspublicawarenessandinvolvement inprotectingwaterresourcesaroundthe world by engaging citizens in conducting basic monitoring of theirlocal water-bodies. The WWMC Water Champion Awards recognizeoutstanding efforts and innovation in water-monitoring education andoutreach. Eight groups also were honored.

Arora initiated several WWMC educational campaigns fromOctober through December 2012 around Delhi, New Delhi, Agra, UttarPradesh and parts of Haryana adjacent to Delhi. During the 15-day IndiaInternational Trade Fair, she set up a booth where hundreds of studentsparticipated in quizzes and games, and thousands of adults receivedinformation about water-quality monitoring.

Her program caught the attention of local educators. “Principalsof various schools are asking me to train their students to beenvironmental scientists with the help of the WWMC testing kits,”she said.

Arora’s educational campaigns also focused on communitiessurrounding the Yamuna River Basin. “Community members wereeager to find out more about the quality of their water,” she reported.“They not only participated in the testing process but also went to raiseawareness among their peers about the importance of clean water. Theyshared their stories and pictures while putting pressure on officials toprovide access to clean water. It got much online media attention.”

Those who were trained to perform tests brought what they hadlearned to their local waterways. And, she added, “Many locals cameforward hoping that their voices could have an international platform,and could therefore pressure government officials to improve access toclean drinking-water.”

Along with the prestigious award, WWMC presented Arora with$500 worth of water-testing equipment of her choice, which she intendsto use on a larger scale with the help of other Waterkeepers in India.

Indian Waterkeepera World Champion of Water-Monitoring

on the shore of the yamuna, riverkeeper minakshi arora teaches a hard lesson onwater quality to local children.

photo courtesy of the gertrude bell archive, newcastle university.

photo by charles depman.

these 4 photos are by ali arkady.

photo courtesy of the the gertrude bell archive, newcastle university.


Ripples

RiverkeeperJeff Turner IsField & Stream“Hero ofConservation”Jeff Turner, Blackwater/NottowayRiverkeeper (Virginia) was honored by Field& Stream magazine in its June issue for hisextraordinary contributions to conservation.Each month Field & Stream honors threegrassroots conservationists as part of its“Heroes of Conservation” program, whichrecognizes individuals for outstanding workin protecting fish, wildlife and habitats.

The citation in the magazine read: “Anavid fisherman, Turner created the firstWaterkeeper Alliance chapter in Virginia

12 years ago to protect the Blackwater andNottoway Rivers. Turner gives presentationsabout the rivers’ key species, organizes anannual trash cleanup, guides researcherssurveying mussels and striped bass,and reports on his regular patrols of thewaterways and their resources. Through hispresentations, he was recently instrumental inhelping the Nature Conservancy acquire 250acres at Byrd Point for permanent protection.”

“It’s a great honor to be named a heroof conservation by a national magazinelike Field & Stream,” Turner said. “I’m veryblessed that I have so much support in thecommunity. It’s just nice to know there arepeople who appreciate my efforts.”

Turner received a $500 award fromField & Stream’s “Heroes of Conservation”partner, Toyota, and is eligible for the Hero-of-the-Year grand prize, a new Toyota Tundraand a $5,000 grant, which are awarded in thefall in Washington, D.C. Turner contributes amonthly column to the The Tidewater Newsabout his river patrols and major threats tothe Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers. Here is

an excerpt from one of his recent columns:“It just seems like whenever we get a bigrain, the river rises so much faster now. ‘Whyis that?’ This is a question I am getting askedmore and more. . . .The bad news is theflooding issues are only going to get worseon the lower end of the Blackwater andNottoway rivers. Last week a citizen fromPrince George County invited me up there tolook at one of the reasons. What I saw wasmega industrial parks with hundreds of acresof land being paved. I was stunned. Now I’mnot against development at all. The problemwith the area around the Rolls Royce facilityoff of Rte. 460 is that it is smack dab atthe beginning of the Blackwater. Now younoticed I did not say Blackwater River andthat’s because it’s not a river there. Insteadit is a beautiful complex wetland area. Thislush watershed and vast tupelo/cypressswamp is what the Blackwater is born outof. Unfortunately the wholesale paving ofthe land bordering the swamp means ahumongous increase in the amount of watercoming towards Franklin.”

“It’s a great honor to be named a hero of conservationby a national magazine like Field & Stream.”

“It’s a great honor to be named a hero of conservationby a national magazine like Field & Stream.”

“It’s a great honor to be named a hero of conservation

on an eco-cruise for senior citizens,

jeff turner explains how a beaver

gnawed the skin off a tree branch.

photo by frank davis

CHINACOAL

CHINA CONSUMES MORE COALTHAN ALL THE REST OF THE WORLDAND A GREAT NATION’S HEALTH

IS IN PERIL.STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHARLES DEPMAN

CHINA CONSUMES MORE COALCHINA CONSUMES MORE COALCHINA CONSUMES MORE COALCHINA CONSUMES MORE COALTHAN ALL THE REST OF THE WORLDTHAN ALL THE REST OF THE WORLDAND A GREAT NATION’S HEALTHAND A GREAT NATION’S HEALTH

IS IN PERIL.IS IN PERIL.STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHARLES DEPMANSTORY AND PHOTOS BY CHARLES DEPMAN


China’s pollution, largely from coal combustion, contributes each

year to more than 1.2 million premature deaths.

Waterkeeper Magazine Summer 2013

a government plan to increase coal production and

build more power plants near mines is worsening water

shortages in china’s dry northern regions.

29

he muddy waters of the Yellow River

wind through the city of Lanzhou in

northwestern China, crossing through the

Xigu District on the western edge of the city.

�e 1015-megawatt Datang Xigu cogeneration

power-plant’s four smokestacks, ascending in

order from a defunct 1940s Soviet 60-footer

to an active 1970s 120-footer, loom over the

community near the banks of the river. A rail

yard hugs the edge of the plant’s high walls,

and rows of open-top train-cars extend into the

distance, each brimming with black coal. Across

the tracks, a mountain of gray coal ash sits

exposed, waiting to be added to cement mix at a

neighboring cement factory.

Home to 3.6 million people, Lanzhou is the sprawling, arid capital of

Gansu Province. It is well known for its hand-pulled noodles, but its poor

air-quality generates much more buzz on internet forums.

Waterkeepers and other environmentalists across China are scrambling

to confront the growing coal-addiction that is wreaking pollution and taking

a massive toll on health across the country. Coal’s portion of China’s energy

mixture is about 70 percent, and China now consumes more coal than

the rest of the world combined. Recent studies have indicated that China’s

pollution, largely from coal combustion, contributes each year to more than

1.2 million premature deaths, an increasing number of birth defects and a

climbing cancer rate.

One afternoon last spring, a team from the Upper Yellow River

Waterkeeper, working under the environmental organization Green

Camel Bell, visited schools and apartment buildings surrounding the Xigu

power plant to interview local residents. Near Zhongjiahe elementary

school, some 500 feet from the plant, a parent commented, “My son comes

home every day from school with ash in his hair and on his clothing. I

make him wash immediately.”

In the alleyways of a nearby residential section, the team passed a

parked car with windows obscured by a blanket of ash. As one team member

raised a finger to draw a sad face on the driver’s-side window, a woman

holding two children in an adjacent doorway called out, “Sometimes it rains

ash for hours here. I don’t dare hang my clothes outside to dry.”

But most locals find the ash and soot merely a nuisance, the itchy

throats it causes just short-term discomforts. �ey are largely unaware of the

toxicity of the substances contained in these byproducts of coal combustion

and the long-term effects of exposure to them. Air-pollutants and solid

pollutants belching out from such plants contain a collection of heavy metals

that can lead to brain damage, respiratory damage and cancer. �ey include

arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium and manganese, as

well as particulate matter larger than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5).

�e contamination of the air is severe and obvious, but less visible and just as

noxious is the contamination of the water that the ash and soot land on

or are washed into by rainfall.

Just as in the United States in the 1960s, highly visible air-pollution

in China has been driving citizens to push for stronger environmental

regulation and enforcement. And, just as nine years elapsed between

MY SON COMES HOME EVERY DAYFROM SCHOOL WITH ASH IN HIS HAIRAND ON HIS CLOTHING. I MAKE HIMWASH IMMEDIATELY.

air pollution in china is severe and obvious, but less visible

and just as lethal is the contamination of water resources.


the U. S.’s monumental Clean Air Act of 1963 and the Clean Water Act,

Chinese citizens may be slow to focus on the less apparent water issues.

But Waterkeepers are trying to change that.

�e process of extracting coal and burning it or converting it into other

petrochemicals is extremely water-intensive. A report by Greenpeace East

Asia estimates that, in two years’ time, coal mining, coal-fired power plants,

and coal-chemical industries in China will be using almost 10 billion cubic

meters of water per year.

“And unfortunately,” says Zhao Zhong, a founder and board member

of Green Camel Bell, who accompanied the Waterkeeper team, “most of

the domestic coal industry is located in China’s driest provinces.” So, much of

the water that is used is piped in from already water-scarce areas.

“In one desert community that we visited in Xinjiang,” says Sun Qingwei, a

coal-campaign coordinator at Greenpeace’s oice in Beijing, “villagers could

get fresh water from wells dug 10 meters into the ground. But a coal-chemical

plant opened several kilometers away and started tapping into the area’s

water table. You could do jumping-jacks in those extraction pipes, they were

so massive. And wastewater from that plant is highly toxic and treatment is

under-regulated. �e community now haommunity now haomm s to drill to 150 meters to get water

for their crops, livestock, and families. And even those deep aquifers are dryingfor their crops, livestock, and families. And even those deep aquifers are dryingf

up or are being severely polluted.”

Because of an underdeveloped environmental legal system, there often

is little recourse for suffering Chinese citizens. “When community membommunity membomm ers

petitioned the local government,” says Sun, “they were ignored. When they

traveled by train to Beijing to protest to higher authorities, they were jailed and

deported back home.”

�e Upper Yellow River Waterkeeper team also traveled to

several coal mines and coal-burning factories outside Lanzhou to interview

workers and to inspect some of the places where discharges from the

industrial operations emptied into local streams. Many miners and

factory employees have no health benefits and work without respiratory

protection while piles of freshly extracted coal and burned ash sit exposed

and uncontained beside them, the runoff forming black, shimmering

rivulets that cross roadways and sidewalks.

MANYMINERSANDFACTORYEMPLOYEESHAVE NOHEALTHBENEFITSAND WORKWITHOUTRESPIRATORYPROTECTION.


After a long day of inspections and interviews, the Waterkeeper

team returned to their oice – their faces, clothes and particulate masks

darkened by coal-soot. Xu Dingyan, who heads Green Camel Bell’s water

program, began to look at Greenpeace aerial photos of mining areas where

grasslands looked as if they had been ravaged by artillery ire – massive

craters pockmarking the land of into the horizon.

“Mining in other parts of China is even worse,” she observed. In Inner

Mongolia, for one, “collapses can happen at any moment, swallowing cows

or cars whole.”

“Coal is not just a Chinese issue, but a global one,” says Zhong. “he

American coal companies’ eagerness to export coal from the Paciic

Northwest to power-hungry China isn’t helping either side of the Paciic.

We need to take this ight to the international level.”

Waterkeeper Alliance and its members around the world are

beginning to organize and unite against this common threat. At the

Forward on Climate Rally in Washington, D.C., in February 2013,

Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi Waterkeepers sent their anti-

coal messages, and they co-wrote Huffington Post and Seattle Times

articles opposing the proposed Paciic Northwest coal terminals. In

Bangladesh, Buriganga Riverkeeper Sharif Jamil has joined a coalition

working to stop a planned 1320-megawatt coal-ired power plant in

Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangrove forest, a UNESCO World Heritage

site. In Colombia, Bocas de Ceniza Waterkeeper Liliana Guerrero is

ighting a proposed super-port in her watershed that would increase

coal exports from one- to 22-million tons a year. In Chile, Maule Itata

Coastkeeper Rodrigo de la O and hundreds of supporters from his

community are protesting the development of the Los Robles coal-ired

power plant that threatens nearby national reserves and parks.

Coal is, as Zhao Zhong stated, a global problem. And across the

world, Waterkeepers are working tirelessly to stop mining operations and

coal-powered industries from spewing more toxins into our water, our

ecosystems, and our bodies.

Charles Depman, formerly Waterkeeper Alliance’s asia regional

coordinator, is an NYU writing fellow in Shanghai, China.

donna lisenby, waterkeeper alliance’s global coal campaign coordinator,

with a coal worker in his home outside lanzhou.

W


BY JOHN WEISHEIT, COLORADO RIVERKEEPER

THE FIRSTSACRIFICE

CONQUERING THECOLORADO RIVERHASN’T WORKED,BUT WORKING WITHTHE RIVER WILL.B Y J O H N W E I S H E I T,

C O L O R A D O R I V E R K E E P E RTHE FIRSTSACRIFICE

n its most recent annual report,

the group American Rivers

placed the Colorado River at

the top of the list of threatened

rivers in the United States,

observing that the 1,400-

mile Colorado “is so dammed,

diverted, and drained that it

dries to a trickle before reaching

the sea.”

I have a confession: the Colorado River is

not the most endangered river in the United

States. Even more endangered are the rivers

that do not have a Waterkeeper organization

to protect and restore them, especially those

in the arid lands with high evaporation rates

and unsustainable human consumption.

But the Colorado is in trouble, alright.

he river was the victim of an engineering

project designed to control the entire

contents of a continent-sized watershed,

an undertaking that ultimately ended the

Colorado’s rightful journey from the Rocky

Mountains to the Paciic Ocean. he Hoover

Dam, a public-works experiment authorized

by the U.S. Congress in 1928 and completed

in 1936, introduced the technology of building

a “high dam” of reinforced concrete, and this

development has since endangered nearly

every major river basin across the globe.

I

the colorado river in lake powell, which was created by glen canyon dam.

the sediment deposits here in upper glen canyon are over 200 feet deep

because of the damming. photo by dr. john c. dohrenwend


he professional literature and administrative

records refer to the Colorado as the “most

developed” river in the world, which, with

its many major dams and reservoirs it may

well be. he abundant water attorneys in

the basin have called it “the world’s most

contested waterway.” But perhaps the most

maddening phrase I have ever heard applied to

the Colorado River came from Patricia Mulroy,

general manager of the Southern Nevada Water

Authority. Dubbed by a journalist as “the water

empress of Vegas,” Mulroy has described the river basin as an “economic

watershed.” his statement echoes a more general cliché about how “the

Colorado River flows uphill to money,” since most of its electrical-energyproduction is used to pump water over mountain ranges to the real-estate bonanzas of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Here’s what the Colorado River really is: the first sacrifice. HooverDam became obsolete on the very day it was completed and Lake Mead,the reservoir behind the dam, began to fill. (It took seven years.) It wasnot fully appreciated at the time that, although the new technologyinvolved did solve a major economic and social problem by deliveringwater to make an arid landscape habitable, it also created a problem ofequal magnitude. Because demand would overreach the river’s naturalcarrying capacity, eventual breakdown of the system was inevitable.

In contrast to the clichés above, here’s what every purveyor of

public water in the Colorado River basin should be saying: “�e presenttechnology can only control little droughts and little floods. When thebig ones arrive, the system will fail.”

So far, the Colorado River basin has been very lucky. It has yet tosuffer through a sustained period of severe drought, which the 1,200-year record of tree rings assures us will happen. Nor has it faced the fullextent of a maximum flood, such as recent and frightening paleo-floodinvestigations have indicated to be probable.

�at luck, however, is about to run out, and it is very likely thatbefore too long the generators at Hoover Dam will stop spinning, theSunbelt’s fairways will turn brown, and people will begin to migrateto watersheds that are sustainable. In other words, as environmentalhistorian Donald Worster has often informed his readers, until water-managers abandon the notion of conquering a river basin, and insteadembrace the concept of working with a river basin, a “hydro-society”such as the Colorado River’s can never fully achieve sustainability.

In response to all the organized river-mangling that happens in theColorado River watershed, the campaigns of the Colorado Riverkeeperare bold and serious. We do not fundraise to pick up trash, or to removeexotic plants; nor do we practice free-market environmentalism tobuy or trade water for an endangered ecosystem—it deserves thewater it needs for free. We want to stop greedy grabs for water thatmay exist in arbitrary legal documents, but do not exist in the actualriver bed. More importantly, we want to take down the dams that areredundant and wasteful. We propose multi-century planning that will

G LE N CANYON DAM I N 1963 AS TH E DAM N’S R ESE RVOI R, LAKE POWE LL, WAS F I LLI NG. N I N ETY-F IVE PE RCE NT OF TH E G RAN D

CANYON’S SE DI M E NT AN D N UTR I E NTS AR E TRAPPE D B E H I N D G LE N CANYON DAM.

T

photo courtesy of bureau of reclamation












coloradoriverrunningdry

MAP COU RTESY OF AM E R ICAN R IVE R S


efectively mitigate future impacts, such as the filling of the reservoirswith sediment, which will eventually compromise drought- and flood-control options—for the flow of the Colorado River entrains moresediment per acre-foot than any other river in North America.

Right now the Colorado River basin contains about 50 storagereservoirs built by the federal government and supplied through bigdams. Tearing down these dams along the Colorado would signal a newera of water-management for the planet – the era that started in thisriver basin would begin to end here. Our first target is Glen CanyonDam – and the vast reservoir behind it, Lake Powell – where we arecarrying on a campaign that originated decades ago with dedicated dambusters such as David Brower of the Sierra Club and Brent Blackwelder ofFriends of the Earth.

Ninety-five percent of the Grand Canyon’s sediment and nutrientsare trapped behind Glen Canyon Dam. Organic materials mixed into thissediment used to provide the fertilizer for the river ecosystem’s health.Instead, the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon now runs clear and cold,allowing the green alga cladophora to grow and replace the natural warm-water food web. �e absence of replenishing sediment is also causingcritical beach and sandbar habitat to disappear, and undermining thestability of archaeological sites sacred to the Canyon’s native peoples.

Further, the isolation of the Grand Canyon’s river habitat betweenHoover Dam downstream and Glen Canyon Dam upstream hasinhibited migration and genetic diversity among the native species stillfound in the Grand Canyon. Today, water flowing through Glen CanyonDam is extracted 200 feet below the surface of Lake Powell reservoir,

too low for the sun’s rays to penetrate. As a result, water enteringGrand Canyon is a near constant 47 degrees. By contrast, before thedam was built, water temperatures ranged from near freezing in thewinter to 80 degree in the summer. �ese warm water temperatureswere critical to triggering native fish reproduction and maintainingnative insect populations.

Regulated flows currently keep the Colorado River in Grand Canyonfluctuating daily between 8,000 and 20,000 cubic feet per second. BeforeGlen Canyon Dam, flows in Grand Canyon fluctuated seasonally from3,000 to 90,000 cfs. Spring snow melt brought a rushing torrent of waterinto the Canyon, transporting sediment, building beaches, replenishing thenutrient base on the river’s shores and creating vital backwater habitat asthe water receded. Low flows were critical for warming water, juvenile fishsurvival, and maintaining the food base.

River otters and muskrats are no longer found in the Grand Canyon. Fourof the eight native Colorado River fish are gone, and two more are strugglingfor survival. Native birds, lizards, frogs and many of the Canyon’s native insectsare disappearing as well. In addition, native vegetation along the river’s highwater zone is absent or stunted due to the lack of nutrients and the invasion ofcompeting non-native plants species.

�e river’s altered chemistry, flow and temperature cycles havecreated an artificial environment allowing non-native species to dominatethe Grand Canyon’s river corridor. Native plants and animals must nowcompete with new alien species for habitat and food.

More than $100 million has been invested in failed efforts to reversethe demise of the Grand Canyon’s river ecosystem. Efforts will continue to

NAVAJO GENERATING STATION (NGS) USES 34,000 ACRE-FEET OF COLORADO-RIVER WATER PER YEAR TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY THAT IS PARTIALLY USED TO OPERATE THE PUMPS

THAT DELIVER COLORADO-RIVER WATER VIA AQUEDUCT TO PHOENIX AND TUCSON. THE COAL TO HEAT THE WATER COMES FROM NAVAJO AND HOPI TRIBAL LANDS. NGS IS A HUGE

CONTRIBUTOR OF AIR POLLUTION AND GREENHOUSE GASES AND THERE ARE CAMPAIGNS TO DECOMMISSION THE PLANT. PHOTO BY COLORADO RIVERKEEPER.

the bureau ofreclamation canonly controllittle droughtsand little floods.when the bigones arrive, thesystem will fail.


WATERKEEPERS WORK ONENDANGERED RIVERSBY LESLEY ADAMS,WESTERN REGIONAL COORDINATOR

fail unless all natural processes are restored: river flow, water temperature,

and sediment and nutrient inputs.

�e simplest solution is to decommission Glen Canyon Dam. Such

a decisive action would instantly liberate 240 river-miles within Grand

Canyon National Park, followed by the 165 miles of Glen Canyon, the six

miles of Narrow Canyon, and the lower 25 miles of Cataract Canyon. �e

tributary rivers would also be reclaimed: the lower 75 miles of the San

Juan, the lower 20 miles of the Dirty Devil and the lower 25 miles of the

Escalante. �at amounts to 556 miles of restored river wilderness, all of it

habitat for endangered fish.

�e elimination of so much unnecessary reservoir evaporation and

seepage would make that water less salty – and that water savings must

flow to its rightful destination in the Gulf of California, never to be

sacrificed again for a massive water-dependent project.

Unfortunately, many river-conservation organizations think

that the decommissioning of Glen Canyon Dam is too big and too

controversial a goal. I say, since when is a Waterkeeper afraid of

controversy and since when is the right thing for a river the wrong

thing to ask for?

Take this dam down and take it down now!

John Weisheit, the Colorado Riverkeeper, lives in the Colorado River town of Moab,

Utah. He is also the co-fous also the co-fous al nder of Living Rivers and serves as its conservation director

John was a professional river guide for many years and wrote a book, “CataJohn was a professional river guide for many years and wrote a book, “CataractJ

Canyon: A Human and Environmental History of the Rivers in Canyonlands”, a

the river reaches above Lake Powell reservoir.

oab,

irector.

“Cataract

nds”, about

THE CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT (CAP) IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE PUBLIC WATER WORKS

PROJECT EVER CONSTRUCTED IN THE UNITED STATES. THE POWER TO PUMP THE

WATER IN THE AQUEDUCT UPHILL TO PHOENIX AND TUCSON COMES FROM THE NAVAJO

GENERATING STATION. PHOTO BY COLORADO RIVERKEEPER

SCIENCE TRIP INVESTIGATING THE SEDIMENT DEPOSITS OF UPPER LAKE POWELL. THE

COLORADO RIVER HAS INCISED ITSELF INTO THE LAKE’S MASSIVE SEDIMENT DEPOSITS.

PHOTO BY DR. JOHN C. DOHRENWEND

W


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THIS

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MUST

LIVE39Summer 2013 Waterkeeper Magazine

THIS

SACRED

RIVER

MUST

LIVE

RIVERKEEPERS ALONG THE YAMUNA

ARE RAISING HOPES THAT THE RIVER CAN BE

RESTORED TO ITS FORMER GRANDEUR.STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHARLES DEPMAN


UNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TOUR-

ISTS FLOOD INTO THE CITY OF AGRA,

INDIA EVERY year to view the

gleaming marble face of the

Taj Mahal, a site immaculately

kept since its completion in

1653. Emperor Shah Jahan,

who had the Taj Mahal built

as a tomb for his wife, kept

the relecting-pools illed with

water from the sacred Yamuna

River that lows just meters from the site’s northern walls.

At that time, royal visitors to the tomb could watch egrets ish

among reeds and children play in the pristine waters. But three-and-a-

half centuries later, tourists are quick to turn away from the black, life-

less waters of the Yamuna. Government incompetence and corruption,

law-breaking and proit-driven industries have deiled the river almost

to the point of oblivion.

Ashwini Kumar Mishra, a cheery Hindu priest who is a native of

Agra, is ighting for the river as Mid Lower Yamuna Riverkeeper. He,

along with his congregation and volunteers, has been working to spread

awareness about water-pollution and to pressure the local government

to take necessary remedial action.

One of the horriic conditions he has faced has been raw sewage

emptying into the Yamuna just upstream from the Taj Mahal. In 2010,

Mishra succeeded, through petitions and peaceful protests, in forcing

the local government to begin construction of a series of lagoons that

would serve as a natural treatment system for sewage in the western

part of Agra. Before his campaign succeeded, thousands of gallons of

raw sewage would empty straight into the Yamuna before lowing past

the Taj Mahal.

Standing beside me during my recent visit to Agra, Mishra point-

ed to the dark, rank waters of the head pond of the treatment system,

and remarked, “his is what the entire waste canal looked like before

2010.” It was an open sewer for the surrounding communities. But as

Mishra and I stepped away along a dirt path that runs along the snaking

lagoons, the stench retreated and an earthy wetland smell replaced it.

he lagoons form a six-kilometer network of thriving wetlands.

During our walk along their banks, I saw dozens of bird species, in-

cluding a kingisher and a peacock (India’s national bird), and heard

the steady hum of a thriving insect population. In several of the lower

lagoons, ish broke the water’s surface as they came up to feed on the

bugs.

Still, this is only a small piece of the puzzle. he Yamuna River runs

1,376 kilometers, or 855 miles, from its origin in the Himalayas, and is

the largest tributary of the Ganges (Ganga) River in northern India. But

it remains an extremely sick river. Sadly so, for it is the principal source

of water for tens of millions of people.

Although Mishra organizes many riverside clean-ups with thou-

sands of participants, many of whom are devotees at his temple, the

Yamuna’s riverbed is parched in many places, blanketed with trash, and

polluted by illegal laundry operations. he river’s once mighty low has

dwindled into a noxious stream that offers little comfort to the children,

livestock and stray dogs that can be seen wading in it on a hot afternoon.hot afternoon.hot af

“It used to be as wide as several superhighways, and now it is bare-

ly as wide as a two-lane road,” one of Mishra’s companions lamented.

“We used to swim in there as children, whole packs of us. Now only the

poor children swim in there to bathe, and they don’t know any better

about the health risks.”

Even larger threats than industrial pollution and sewage loom up-

stream – dams and diversions constructed in a country struggling to

feed and power its burgeoning population, particularly in and around

the, capital, New Delhi, 200 kilometers north of Agra.

�is section of the river is watched over by Minakshi Arora, the

“THROWING

ORGANIC WASTE

INTO THE SACRED

YAMUNA RIVER

FOR IT TO WASH

AWAY IS AN OLD

TRADITION AMONG

HINDUS”


Mid Upper Yamuna Riverkeeper (see Ripples, p. 23), and her husband,

Kesar Singh, the Lower Yamuna Riverkeeper. �ese devoted water

activists also run the Hindi regional section of India Water Portal, a

web-based interactive platform that deals with water-management

challenges and offers practical solutions.

Arora and Singh took me to a stretch of the Yamuna between

two thermal-power plants in the south of New Delhi. Where a small

barrage, or dam, overlows beneath a bridge, the black water is so

heavily polluted that it froths up into little foam icebergs that continue

downstream. A series of large barrages upstream divert most of the

water towards agricultural and industrial use and, as a result, this leg

of the Yamuna consists almost entirely of untreated wastewater from

16 massive pipes that carry the city’s sewage.

After trekking along this stinking stretch of the Yamuna for sev-

eral kilometers in scorching heat, we took a seat in the shade near a

highway turnoff. Every minute or so, a car pulled up and a passenger

removed a plastic bag of trash from its trunk. Some would walk to the

embankment and hurl the bag and its contents into the river. Others

would wait for a half-naked man to climb the embankment from his

boat and do the same deed for them in exchange for several rupees.

“See the high fence they built along that bridge,” said Kesar,

pointing up to a 10-foot wall of mesh wire running its entire span.

“�ey built that so people would stop throwing trash bags out of their

car windows into the river.”

It was evidently a wasted effort.

“�rowing organic waste into the sacred Yamuna River for it to

wash away is an old tradition among Hindus,” Arora explained back in

the bustling heart of New Delhi. “But now much of the waste is inor-

ganic and doesn’t degrade. It is also traditional for people to dispose

of bodies in the river. Now the river hardly lows, and the population

has exploded. So the river can no longer serve as it did once. But tra-

ditions stick, and the people keep defiling the Yamuna. Government

campaigns to curb this have had little effect.”

Another well-known river activist, Sudhirendar Sharma, sat

down with me over chai tea and told me about Balbir Singh Seechew-

al, a famous environmentalist in the state of Punjab. In 2007 Seechew-

al initiated a campaign to clean the Kali Bein, a 160-kilometer-long

stream sacred to Sikhs, with the help of thousands of community

members. Encroachment by farmers, silt-deposition and wild growth

had virtually obliterated the Kali Bein.

Under Seechewal’s leadership, volunteers dredged the stream-

bed and cleaned up the stream bank, and pressure from his organi-

zation led towns and villages along the stream to stop dumping raw

sewage into it. Soon the government of Sultanpur Lodhi, the largest

city that the Kali Bein runs through, agreed to build a treatment-plant

for the urban sewage that had been fouling the stream’s waters. �e

Kali Bein’s transformation was stunning, and following this successful

campaign, Seechewal has continued to fight for clean water.

Seechewal’s story highlights the importance of victories on

smaller water bodies in India. Because the issues facing large riv-

ers such as the Yamuna are so colossal, and almost impossible to

remedy without a concerted, multi-year effort by the government,

Sharma recommended focusing on smaller rivers and streams

where improvements are more conspicuous.

My trip was an emotional roller-coaster. I was saddened to wit-

ness the state of some of India’s most sacred waterways, but I was also

encouraged to meet such passionate activists working to change the

status quo. I departed, though, feeling more hopeful than pessimistic.

As Waterkeeper Alliance and other international and domestic envi-

ronmental groups continue to support the work of clean-water advo-

cates in India and across Asia, I have an encouraging sense that more

change is coming, if slowly, for the long-term benefit of the thousands

of waterways and billions of people of that continent.

“BUT NOW

MUCH OF

THE WASTE IS

INORGANIC

AND DOESN’TDEGRADE.”

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OKLAHOMA, OR ALASKA.

. county with the

oil and gas wells –

– is Weld County

Colorado, where the

Cache la Poudre River, which

starts at the Continental Divide

in Rocky Mountain National

Park, lows east out of Larimer

County into the South Platte.

Hundreds of wells are already in

operation along the Poudre, and

many more are planned to be

drilled and fracked there, as the

Niobrara Shale Formation, which covers parts of four states, becomes

one of the most desirable sources of shale oil and gas in the United

States.

As the drilling escalates, several cities in the area around and

north of Denver are battling to regulate or ban fracking. During the

past year, no community has been more furiously engaged against

fracking than Fort Collins, on the Cache la Poudre 57 miles north of

Denver, at a location where the shale formation bumps into Colorado’s

sprawling Front Range subdivisions. he city’s epic ight has highlighted

the political chaos that has disabled local governments on the issue of

fracking in Colorado.

Here is a timeline of events: In May 2012, I wrote an editorial

in the Fort Collins Coloradoan, headlined, “Fort Collins Should

Ban Fracking.” Over the next several months, a local anti-fracking

group, “Frack-Free Fort Collins,” formed and began attending City

Council meetings to seek a ban on fracking. In December 2012, the

Council, under public pressure, voted unanimously for a seven-month

moratorium on fracking. As public pressure intensiied, the Council

in March 2013 voted ive-to-two to ban fracking, with an exemption

for the driller occupying eight well-sites in the northern part of

city’s annexed boundary. A few days later, Colorado Governor John

Hickenlooper, a Democrat and former oil geologist who has sided

strongly with the oil-and-gas industry, threatened to sue Fort Collins

and any other city that voted for such a ban. hree weeks after that,

the Council, under fear of that lawsuit, overturned the ban. hen the

drilling company operating in town also threatened to sue, and the

City Council voted to open up even more land to the company, thus

effectively ending the moratorium on fracking. At the end of May 2013,

another group, “Citizens for a Healthy Fort Collins,” formed and began

gathering signatures to place a proposal for a five-year moratorium on

fracking on the November ballot.

Fort Collins is not the only local government that, under the

OUR RIVER HAS LONG BEEN RUNNING DRY, AND THE SAME CITIES THAT ARE PROPOSING AHUGE NEW DAM AND RESERVOIR THAT WOULD DRAIN IT FURTHER ARE ALSO SELLING HUGE

AMOUNTS OF WATER TO FRACKERS.

A NEW RACE FOR INCREASINGLY SCARCE WATER SUPPLIES IS ROILING COLORADO, PITTING FARMERS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS AGAINST DEEPPOCKETED ENERGY COMPANIES THAT

ARE USING HYDRAULIC FRACTURING TO DRILL DEEP NEW WELLS. A SINGLE WELL, SUCH AS THE ONE PICTURED HERE, CAN REQUIRE FIVE MILLION GALLONS OF WATER.

threat of lawsuits, is caving in to the oil-and-gas industry and Governor

Hickenlooper. he drillers, brandishing their mineral rights for the oil

and gas, accuse governments that ban their activities of having enacted

a form of property-right “takings.” hey warn that millions of dollars

in damages could be charged to the governments each month that an

oil or gas well is idled by a moratorium or ban. Most local governments

have buckled under these arguments.

On the other side, citizen activists claim that drilling and fracking

are also a form of “taking” – in this case, of the public’s health – because

they harm the water and air that belongs to the people. hese groups

have been threatening to ile counter-lawsuits against local and state

governments for not protecting the public’s health. Over the past

12 months, the number of these legal threats, along with bans and

moratoriums, has escalated almost every week. Along the Front Range

of Colorado, at least ive local initiatives are now moving forward to

place long-term moratoria or bans on the November ballot.

Much of this political mess has been caused by Governor

Hickenlooper, who has been an unabashed cheerleader for the oil

and gas industry and an implacable opponent of the environmental

community, as well as many moderate suburban voters. He appeared

in a radio ad for the natural gas industry, and publicstrystry ly bragged that he

drank Halliburton’s toxic fracking fluid. He has accepted over $100,000from oil- and-gas interests for his re-election campaign, and has

received financhis public-policy pursuit

Concerns about quality, home values, public Poudre Waterkeeper has been engaged in the fracking fight primarilyon the issue of water quantity. Our river has long been running dry,and the same cities that are proposing a huge new dam and reservoirthat would drain it further are also selling huge amounts of water tofrackers. In an arid state like Colorado, there are already too manystraws sucking water out of our rivers, including the Cache la Poudre,and frackers, who can outbid cities and farms for precious river-water,are dipping their straws ever deeper.

Fracking not only drains rivers of billions of gallons of water,but then laces that water with cancer-causing chemicals, runs theconcoction through the drilling-and-fracking process, and injects thetoxic leftover waste-products deep underground in 10,000-foot-deepbrackish aquifers, where EPA regulators hope it will stay forever andnever return to the face of the earth.

Fort Collins’ fracking fight continues, but the clock is ticking.Water, oil, gas and money are all mixed together, and polluted air,water and democracy are the toxic waste-products that the fossil-fuelindustry is spreading across the Cache la Poudre River, the state ofColorado, America and the planet.

IN AN ARID STATE LIKE COLORADO, THERE ARE ALREADY TOO MANY STRAWS SUCKING WATER OUTOF OUR RIVERS, INCLUDING THE CACHE LA POUDRE, AND FRACKERS, WHO CAN OUTBID CITIES AND

FARMS FOR PRECIOUS RIVER-WATER, ARE DIPP ING THE IR STRAWS EVER DEEPER.

A WORKER USES HAND SIGNALS TO COMMUNICATE OVER THE ROAR OF MASSIVE PUMPS AT A HYDRAULIC FRACTURING SITE IN THE FOOTHILLS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF

WATER ARE PUMPED DOWN WELL HOLES TO SPLIT OPEN OIL- AND GAS-BEARING FORMATIONS IN THE FRACKING PROCESS. AP PHOTO/BRENNAN LINSLEY

W


On The Water

Middle Han Waterkeeper and the local community gathered on the Han River in Xiangfan City, China to celebrate Swimmable Water Weekend2013, a global network of events held July 25 - 28, 2013. Waterkeepers organized more than 30 events in eight countries to draw attention to theneed for safe, clean, swimmable water.

For more photos of Swimmable Water Weekend events, visit our photo album online at Flickr.com/waterkeeperalliance.

Photo by Middle Han Waterkeeper47Summer 2013 Waterkeeper Magazine


More than 250 Waterkeepers and other environmental activists camefrom every part of the world to attend Waterkeeper Alliance’s 15thannual conference at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgiafrom June 5th through 9th.

But no one traveled as far as John Wathen, the implacableguardian of Hurricane Creek in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The distancefrom Hurricane Creek to Pine Mountain is about 200 miles, butWathen trekked almost 8,000 miles – from Auckland, New Zealand,where he had gone at the invitation of Greenpeace to help organizeresistance against plans by the Texas oil company Anadarko toconduct high-risk deep-sea drilling for oil off New Zealand’s coast.

An award-winning photojournalist, Wathen documented thecatastrophic 2010 BP oil-spill in the Gulf of Mexico, both on theground and from the air, and he was delighted to carry his battleacross two oceans, all the more because Anadarko, which has drillingoperations in more than a dozen countries, was BP’s partner in thewell that blew up off Louisiana.

“This fight may have been in New Zealand,” Wathen said shortlyafter arriving at the conference, “but the problem is global.”

That comment was fitting at the opening of a conference wheremuch of the business of the four days was focused on the nexus ofcorporate and political power that is threatening not only the world’swaters, but the very survival of the planet.

The Waterkeeper conference is fast becoming one of the mostimportant convenings of clean-water activists in the world, and thecontinuing growth and power of the Waterkeeper movement has beenfueled by the energy expended and ideas expressed there.

Pine Mountain is located in the watershed of the Flint River, andthe conference was hosted by Flint Riverkeeper Gordon Rogers andChattahoochee Riverkeeper Sally Bethea, whose watershed adjoinsthe Flint. In his opening remarks, Rogers explained that, in Georgia,as everywhere, the battle for adequate and clean water is foremosta battle for the ownership of government – for transparency andaccountability. It is a battle about who makes policy.

“A handful of people,” he insisted, “less than 25, call the shots onhow resources are used in Georgia – a group that controls our electedofficials and our public policy, operating essentially as an oligarchy.”

Annual Conference

One World,One GlobalCrisisL E F T TO R I G H T, R E V. G E R A L D D U R L E Y ; S A V A N N A H R I V E R K E E P E R TO N YA B O N I TAT I B U S ; H U R R I C A N E

C R E E K K E E P E R J O H N W AT H E N A N D R O B E RT F. K E N N E D Y, J R . ; W AT H E N J O I N S T H E L AT I N A M E R I C A N

W AT E R K E E P E R S AT T E N D I N G T H E C O N F E R E N C E .


photos by john hoving

He concluded with the point that, whether the fights involvedadequate flow, industrial pollution, pollution from coal-fired powerplants, or insufficient enforcement, they were the same fights acrossthe world.

Rogers was followed by Reverend Dr. Gerald Durley, a prominentAtlanta clergyman who is a highly sought speaker on civil- and human-rights issues. Recently his activism has focused on environmentalconcerns, including global warming.

Characterizing environmental activism as “the human-rightsmovement of our time,” he declared, “the same way we fought forthe right to vote in ’64 and ’65, today we’ve got to stand up forclean energy, clean air and clean water as fundamental rights forall God’s people.”

He congratulated the roomful of water activists for being “onthe front lines fighting to stop the planet from being executed by aprivileged few,” and told them that he was “here to tell you to dreamin spite of all the obstacles in your way, because dreamers changethe world. And from now on, you’re not only Waterkeepers, Ianoint you Dreamkeepers.”

Reverend Durley was followed by Shirley Franklin, the formermayor of Atlanta, who praised Sally Bethea for playing a crucial rolein what Franklin called the defining achievement of her mayoralty. Alegal action brought by Bethea’s Chattahoochee Riverkeeper againstthe City of Atlanta resulted in a desperately needed multi-billion-dollar overhaul of the city’s sewer system. Ninety-seven percent of theuntreated sewage that flowed from Atlanta’s decrepit sewer systemin the 1990s – hundreds of billions of gallons each year – has beenstopped. And Franklin said that if Bethea and her organization hadn’thad the courage to bring the City of Atlanta to court, nothing wouldhave happened.

She closed by exhorting her audience not to compromise in thefight for clean water and healthy watersheds: “You who are on thefrontlines, don’t give anyone a pass, not if you’re serious about thedream. America cannot be strong without clean water; America willnot be strong without your efforts. I came here to say, if you don’t doit, nobody will.”

The core of the annual conference is an array of workshops

and lectures, which began on Thursday morning. During this year’sgathering, Waterkeepers and other top-notch professionals offeredmore than 40 workshops, in such areas as clean-water advocacy,the U.S. Clean Water Act and other environmental laws, greeninfrastructure, the threat of fracking and other forms of fossil-fuelextraction, water-quality monitoring, and interaction with governmentagencies and officials.

The training these workshops provide makes the more than200 Waterkeeper organizations around the world more effectiveadvocates for their waterways; and the opportunity to strengthen theirconnections with each other re-affirms the awareness that, althoughtheir struggles may sometimes seem solitary, they are bound togetherin a cause that has become the world’s most critical issue.

On Thursday, the principal speaker was Maud Barlow, a world-renowned water activist and chairwoman of the Council of Canadians,a national citizens’ group. Author of many books, including BlueCovenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Rightto Water. She served in 2008 as senior advisor on water to the UnitedNations General Assembly and was a leader in the campaign to haveaccess to clean water recognized as a human right by the U.N.

Calling the global water crisis “the greatest struggle of our time,”she reported that at least a billion people lack adequate access toeven minimal quantities of drinkable water, and that some 2.8 billionpeople – 44 percent of humanity – live in areas of high water-stress.Declaring that the world is in a race against time, she warned that,unless drastic action is taken, within the next 25 years most of theworld’s people will live in areas with severe water shortages. Shedescribed how multinational corporations are reaping vast profitsfrom declining water supplies, but spoke also of ordinary peoplearound the world who have banded together to reclaim the public’sright to clean water. Her travels around the world had convincedher that “a grassroots global water-justice movement was alreadybeing created,” and that Waterkeepers across the world were in thevanguard of that movement.

“The global commons must be fiercely guarded,” she stated.“We have to do everything in our power to protect our lakes, riversand water resources around the world.”


On Friday, Waterkeeper Alliance’s Executive Director Marc Yaggiunveiled ambitious plans to expand the worldwide Waterkeepermovement, and, speaking in support of it, Casco Baykeeper Joe Payne,one of the founders of the Waterkeeper movement, pronounced that,“more than ever before, the Waterkeeper movement has the chanceto be the voice for the world’s waters.”

Alliance President Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., delivered closingremarks on Saturday evening. Warning of “a tsunami of corporatemoney flooding our political system, and twisting and subverting it,”he expressed the view that the best measure of how a democracyfunctions is “how it distributes the riches of the land and the water,”that “wherever you see environmental injury, you see the subversionof democracy.”

“Right now,” he added, “there are multinational corporationsintent on privatizing the commons and turning it into a profitcenter. We’re in a battle for the commons, a fight between a wealthycorporate ‘cleptocracy’ and the rest of us.” On the good side of thebattle are “Waterkeepers from 22 nations in this room fighting forthe health and integrity of their watersheds. You’re all making thesame kinds of sacrifices. You’re all leaders who face challenges everyday, more often than not alone. But you’re not just fighting for the

environment. You’re giving your lives to humanity to make sureyour countries are moral examples. Every one you is a warrior fordemocracy. You inspire me. Keep fighting. Keep the faith.”

Sassafras Riverkeeper Emmett Duke, from Maryland, offeredan apt summary of the four days of workshops, lectures andcamaraderie: “I was so impressed with the quality of the people whoare Waterkeepers. Exchanging ideas with so many dedicated andtalented individuals from around the world was really powerful. Thewaters of the world are under heavy stress, but the conference left mewith reason to hope for a brighter future. I will return home anxiousto spread the word about the mission of Waterkeeper Alliance, andI’m looking forward to the day when every body of water on earth hasa Waterkeeper.”

Not for the first time, Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathenprovided the last word, which he had brought all those thousands ofmiles from New Zealand. The word, revered by the Maori people, iskaitiakitanga. “It means guardianship of the people and the earth,”he said. “It’s at the heart of how the Maori look at the world. I cansense that same spirit in this awesome bunch of people from all overthe world fighting for their waters.”

Special Thanks To:FOUNDATIONS

Environment Now

Marisla Foundation

Turner Foundation

CORPORATE DONORS

Bin 27

Levi’s

Toyota

Sweetwater Brewing Company

INDIVIDUALS

Laura & Rutherford Seydel

Heather Richardson

HOST WATERKEEPERS

Sally Bethea and

Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

Gordon Rogers

and Flint Riverkeeper

PHOTOGRAPHY ANDVIDEOGRAPHY

John Hoving

Rich Wallin

John Wathen

And thank you to S’well Bottles

for providing the prizes for the

scavenger hunt.

The Waterkeeper

conference is fast

becoming one of

the most important

convenings

of clean-water

activists in the

world, and the

continuing growth

and power of

the Waterkeeper

movement has

been fueled by the

energy expended

and ideas

expressed there.

WATERKEEPER

blue planet’s first responders • citizen …...4 waterkeeper magazine summer 2013 contents news...

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